The look of shock on his face quickly turned to something more somber. “Ah, right. Wouldn't want to keep you. Have a good night, Captain,” he said with a nod, putting Alister on the floor.
“Sorry, it’s not you. I have a… few reports that I need to get done before my shift tomorrow,” she said lamely.
He gave her a smile, but she could see the disappointment it hid. “I understand. Please, don't let me keep you. I had a nice time.” Sara was well aware of the lack of the usual ‘We should do it again sometime’ that accompanied the end of most nights like this one.
Fuck, Sara. You’re an idiot.
She didn't know what to do, though. So she gave him a nod and made a beeline for the door.
She looked back right before exiting and saw that Baxter had his head down slightly, and his brows furrowed in confusion, more than likely wondering what he had done to drive her off.
Alister trotted up next to her as she walked down the corridor toward her room. He gave her a sideways look. “Merp?”
Sara frowned. “I know. I’m a big ol’ chicken. You don't need to rub it in.”
He flicked an ear, but didn't say anything more.
6
The next day and a half passed with Sara trying to avoid Baxter and the feelings she was burying. Her shift on the bridge became a relief instead of the monotonous chore it had been in the previous days of transit. She wouldn’t have to deal with any feelings while staring at the slowly expanding view. Grimms had picked up on her odd mood, but said nothing, gleaning that it was a personal matter he was best left out of.
Sara took the time she wasn’t on duty to talk with the Elif on board. Dr. Hess and Dr. Romis had caught a ride with the Raven, and had been spending time with Ambassador Foss in his quarters. The Ambassador had training on how to handle being alone, but he was relieved to have some company.
The Elif were a very social species, and spent the majority of their time in small groups, even sharing quarters on starships. The doctors had taken the time to reacquaint themselves with each other, and Sara was glad to see that Ambassador Foss was a welcome addition to their reunion. Sara did feel a little uncomfortable at the thought of all three of them sleeping in the same room together, but to each their own. She wasn’t about to judge them for finding happiness, after the battle they had survived.
The doctors were currently keeping busy talking with Cora. They pulled up old descriptions of human ships and the fascinating things they could do both in battle and in peacetime. Cora was finding the detailed records immensely helpful, seeing them as a glimpse of what was to come from the tests she and Grimms had set up. All three of the Elif made it clear that they would like to be onboard when the testing commenced, in order to see firsthand what they had been studying for the majority of their lives. Cora welcomed them with an enthusiasm that mirrored their own.
Sara, however, was still having a little trouble trusting the Elif as a whole after watching the video of the War Mage dying at their treachery. But that was her problem, not the doctors’ or Ambassador Foss’s; they had been nothing but kind and helpful since before Colony 788. She needed to remind herself that what she had seen had happened a long time ago, carried out by long-dead rulers of a desperate race of people. The circumstances were far different now. She didn't think she could ever sacrifice an entire race of people to save her own, but then again, she had never been confronted with that choice.
On the third day, the Regis dropped out of warp, and, with a sweep of the sensors, the Sol System showed itself on the bridge’s holo projector, looking the same as it had when they had flown out on their maiden voyage just under two weeks ago.
They were towed insystem, all the way to the orbital shipyard, where Connors detached the Raven from the destroyer’s hard points and flew them into the dock under thrusters. Sara still didn't want Cora doing any heavy lifting, even the relatively short warp across the system, despite her twin’s reassurances that she was fine.
Sara was packing up her Navy-issued duffel bag for the short stay back on Earth during her debriefing. The Admiralty wanted her to come in person, and with the sensitivity of the information she had gathered on their short mission, she thought an in-person meeting was a good idea.
“Well, we have our testing parameters. Grimms’ suggestions were all accepted, as I figured they would be,” Cora said from the room’s speakers.
Sara smiled. “He is rather thorough. Are you sure you don't want me onboard for the tests?”
“No, Grimms and I can handle it. We’re not going to be looking for a fight, and the jumps we have planned are into deep interstellar space and back. There shouldn't be anyone even remotely close to us; if there is, I can get us out of there quickly,” Cora said, amused at the idea that Sara would want to hang around for a boring battery of tests. “You’re going to have your hands full, anyway. With the debriefings and searching for the dreadnought, you’ll be busy. Do you know where you’re going to start looking, by the way?”
Sara had been thinking about this ever since Cora had brought it up the first time. “I have an idea, but I need to talk to Alister about it.” The cat perked up at the mention of his name.
“How are you going to do that? He’s a cat,” Cora said, reminding Sara that she had not told Cora about their meeting in the Aether. Or the fact that he was a pixie—though now she wondered if that was even possible. Sara told herself she’d kept it quiet so that Cora would not be distracted while adjusting to the core, but she wondered why she really felt the need to keep things like this from her sister.
Some habits die hard, I guess. It’s your sister, dummy; who else do you trust even half as much? Now is as good a time to tell her as any, she supposed.
She opened her mouth to explain how she could talk to her cat, but found she couldn't mention anything about it. Her mouth opened and began to move, but she couldn't get the words out. It was like when she had tried to tell Boon about the pixies. Something was keeping her quiet about anything even remotely concerning the creatures.
I really should have met with Alister to talk about this, she admonished herself. “We have our ways,” she finally told her sister, knowing it sounded lame.
Sara could hear Cora's disbelieving expression. “Uh, okay, weirdo.”
She changed the subject before she was talked into a corner. “How long will the testing take?”
“A few days, a week at the most. I’m sure the UHFC has plenty of plans for us, so they don't want the tests taking too long, but of course they want a thorough examination, at the same time. Don't worry, we’ll be safe.” She paused. “How is Boon doing? Any closer to getting the spellform?”
Sara had just come from Boon’s bunk before packing her own bag. “Don't you watch everything that happens on the ship?” she asked, realizing she had no clue how Cora operated from her tank.
Cora laughed. “I can, but I don't. People deserve their privacy. Besides, I can't look everywhere at once. I’m still human.”
“You spy on me all the time!” Sara argued, standing up from her half-packed duffel bag and planting her hands on her hips.
“Well, you don't count. You’re my sister. And besides, someone has to keep an eye on you,” Cora said smugly.
“Great, my own personal voyeur,” Sara said, rolling her eyes, and she snatched a folded shirt from the bed and stuffed it into the open duffel. “Boon is doing well, for your information. She can make both forms, but is having trouble combining them; I can say from experience that’s the hard part. I’m really impressed by her ability, though, considering she hasn’t had any formal training. With a little more work, I think she’ll have it.”
“Good, then I don't feel so bad that I ordered her to accompany you.”
“What? I’m going to be in with the Admiralty most of the time. Doesn’t she have duties here on the Raven?” Sara asked, immediately regretting the question, because it let Cora know that she wasn’t paying attention to her crew’s duties.
; “God, I can't believe you’re in charge of a warship,” she said with a sigh. “Yes, but nothing that can't be covered by someone else. Besides, most of Boon’s duties are related to you. She is your cabin girl, after all.”
“I knew that,” Sara lied. “It’s probably best if she’s with me, anyway. I’m hoping to learn more about being a War Mage, and she may as well learn it with me.” Sara kept her fears about being unable to control her powers to herself; no need to worry Cora.
There you go again, she scolded herself, before shaking her head slightly to dislodge the worry.
“How long will it take her, do you think?” Cora asked, bringing Sara back to the conversation.
“To be able to cast? I have no clue. She works on it constantly, but it’s a really hard spellform. Besides, if this whole thing is determined by genetics, she may not be able to do it at all,” Sara said, dropping her makeup bag on top of her clothes and zipping the duffel closed.
“It is a hard spell, but I think the fact that she can hold the two separate forms is proof she’s a War Mage. I never met anyone able to hold two forms at once, but after what I learned from the core, I gave it a try. After some practice, I was able to do it, though I still can't combine them,” Cora said mischievously.
Sara cocked her head. “You’re trying the Familiar spell?”
Cora gave a light laugh. “Of course I am. We’re twins, remember? If you’re a War Mage, then so am I.”
Sara blinked a few times, trying to let that sink in. “I didn't even think about that. Holy shit, Cora. We would be unstoppable if you had a familiar, too. “
“The problem is I’m stuck in this tank, and the last I checked, there are no small animals onboard for me to bond with,” her sister reasoned, sounding slightly disappointed.
Knowing that the familiars were not animals at all, Sara had an idea. “Let me worry about that. Don't cast the spell if you figure out how, not until I can arrange for a potential familiar to be close by. I don't know what will happen if they can’t get to you.”
“I figured you would say something like that. Don't bring me a rat or anything creepy; make it something cool,” she laughed.
Sara looked over at Alister, who was paying close attention to the entire exchange. He gave her a very slight nod, though she didn't know if it was to indicate he agreed that Cora could be a War Mage, or if he was saying they could bring her a pixie. Either way, they had a plan of sorts.
Sara checked her arm tablet. “Shit, I have to go. Is Boon ready?”
“I’m ready,” a high voice chimed in from the doorway. Boon was in her dress uniform, and her bag, gripped in both hands, hung in front of her.
Sara threw the strap of her own bag over her shoulder and headed for the door. “Let’s go. We have some admirals to impress,” she said, closing the door behind them once Alister was out in the hall. He jumped up on her shoulder as they made for the airlock.
“Does he always do that?” Boon asked, looking at Alister perched on her shoulder, doing his best impression of an Egyptian god.
He caught her gaze with his yellow eyes, and raised an eyebrow at her. Alicia started, and turned to face forward.
Sara gave a chuckle. “He does. I think it’s because he’s a lazy bastard that hates to walk anywhere.”
His head snapped around to her, and he let out a high-pitched “Meep?”
Sara regarded him with squinted eyes, then said to Boon, “Don’t worry, you’ll have your own little bundle of joy riding you like a horse in no time.”
The girl let out a long breath through her nose, dispelling the pent-up frustration that the spellwork had brought on. “I hope so.”
7
Sara took a sip of water, sitting straighter in her chair. She was at a table facing a semicircle of admirals, all of whom were old enough to remember a world without magic. Boon sat next to her, holding a tablet and scrolling through the reports Sara had written during the mission, presenting the pertinent information to her captain when the time came.
Sara cleared her throat and continued. “That’s right, Admiral Franklin, a familiar.” Alister sat at attention on the table beside her as exhibit A.
Admiral Franklin, a man in his mid-sixties with a neatly trimmed white beard, regarded the cat. “And you say that this familiar,” he looked down at his own tablet, “Alister, is no normal cat, but a conduit for the power you’ve harnessed in becoming a War Mage?”
“That’s right, sir. The spell is extremely difficult, and new evidence from one of the cores we recovered suggests that the ability to cast this spell is somehow genetic in nature; though the details of those genes are, unfortunately, not on the core. The important thing is that my abilities as a mage have escalated. According to the records of the Ancient Humans, a War Mage was like an army unto their self, and that was all possible because of…” She hesitated as the word ‘pixie’ was stricken from her mind. “Creatures like him,” she finished, resting her elbows on the table and giving Alister a smile. He rolled his eyes at ‘creature’, but he knew the restraint she was under.
It must be part of the contract Alister mentioned when we met in the Aether. I really need to talk to him. Tonight, she thought, playfully pulling on the tip of his tail. He gave her a dirty look before sitting up straight, ignoring her pestering.
“I just want to be clear. You’re telling us that, because of this spell you found in a schoolbook, you are now able to take on an entire army? I find that hard to believe, Captain,” a female admiral with her hair in a severe bun said with a smirk.
Alister looked at the woman and flipped an ear in irritation.
Sara suppressed a smile. “With all due respect, Admiral, you have the reports. You have the video from a dozen Aether suits. I can pull this building down around us, if you would like a personal demonstration,” she offered snidely, regretting the flippant comment immediately.
Admiral Franklin frowned. “Despite Captain Sonders’ ill-advised offer of a demonstration, the footage does not lie, Admiral Smith. It is not unreasonable to think there is a type of mage we have not heard of, or a set of spells the Elif don't know about.” Admiral Smith gave a conceding nod, and Admiral Franklin turned back to Sara and Boon. “Ensign…” he checked his tablet once more, “Boon. What is your impression of this union between Captain Sonders and Alister?”
Boon looked up from the tablet, blinking a few times, as the color drained from her face. Her long, blonde hair was pulled back in a bun, better for showing the rising flush of her skin at her sudden involvement in the proceedings.
I’m just supposed to be Sara’s secretary for this meeting!
After a strangled swallow, she cleared her throat. “Sir, to be honest, I had no knowledge of the union until after the battle of Colony 788. But I have to say, the things the captain was capable of were nothing less than amazing. You have the reports, but seeing the wreckage left behind after her attack on the Teifen carrier and their ground troops…” She trailed off in thought. Coming back to herself after a moment’s reflection, she continued. “Sirs, to ignore the possibility of a working union with the familiars is folly. We are facing an un-winnable war, and we are going to need all the help we can get. Right now the only defense we have against the Teifen and Galvox is that they don’t know where Earth is; if they ever found out, we would be extinguished in less than a day. Humans are short-lived and slow breeders, on the galactic scene, but we dominated the galaxy for thousands of years. It seems pretty obvious that the War Mages made that possible. It took the combined forces of three empires to take us down. That tells me we have an ace up our sleeve, and, to be honest, if we don't play it, we may as well give up now and save the ammunition. Sir.”
Sara's mouth nearly dropped to the floor. Boon, normally so reserved and quiet, had broken the problem down perfectly. They needed the United Human Confederation to adopt the idea of creating War Mages; even if they could only find a few dozen on Earth, they would have a huge advantage.
The adm
irals sat back, each officer quietly contemplating Boon’s words. Then they leaned in and talked amongst themselves for quite a while. They seemed to be torn about what to do with this unexpected development. Normally Sara would be concerned that they would try to study Alister, and any like him they could summon, but she knew there was nothing the Navy could do to the pixies.
Pixies only show themselves to their summoner, and after that, the two become inseparable. The Navy can’t just catch one and study it with no consequences, Sara thought, relieved that the pixies would be safe. And no War Mage would ever give up their Familiar. This is an all-or-nothing move, and the admirals know it. They’re just worried about not being in control, about putting their hopes in a nuclear option with a will of its own. She understood where they were coming from, but she still hoped they’d make the right call.
Admiral Franklin cleared his throat. “Captain Sonders, you have sent all the information you have on the familiars—and the process for obtaining them—to Naval Intelligence, correct?”
“Yes, sir. I have given them the spellforms and all the notes I have taken on the subject. My sister, who helped with the creation of the spellform, has sent her reports as well. They have everything they need.”
“Good. We’re going ahead with the project. Ensign Boon is right: we need every edge in the coming conflict. The Elif leaving to defend their home system has left us with a gaping hole in our own defenses, but the core you have brought us will go a long way in filling it. We are already shifting production to the new designs, and upping the schedule for the second and third fleets, and a few surprises will be coming out of the printers in a few days; I just hope it’s fast enough.” The old man referred to his tablet once again. “Captain Sonders, I understand you have requested to take some leave while the Raven undergoes its testing, is that right?”
Dreadnought: War Mage: Book Two (War Mage Chronicles 2) Page 4